Gun scopes can serve a variety of functions. For example, many gun scopes can magnify a viewing area, much like a telescope. Many gun scopes also include reticles that may be manually adjusted to provide an accurate aiming position based on a number of different factors, including distance to a target, angle to the target, wind, humidity, and ballistics characteristics of the projectile, to name a few. Rotatable turrets and rings are often provided on gun scopes to make desired adjustments to reticle position and magnification. For example, rotatable turrets (or knobs) may be provided to adjust the position of a reticle and a rotatable dial (or ring) may be provided to focus or adjust the magnification of the scope. These knobs and rings may be rotatable by hand making adjustments in the field simple and quick.
In order to facilitate manual manipulation, the outer surfaces of these knobs and rings may have textured surfaces or small protrusions. The purpose of the textured surfaces or protrusions is to help a user to engage the knobs or rings with the user's hands and fingers. For example, protrusions can provide leverage for a user to rotate a knob or ring with a finger. Even with small protrusions, it is often difficult for a user to rotate a knob or ring due to the small size of the protrusions and interference with other components on the gun scope. These problems are often exaggerated in use because it is usually a gloved finger that is being used to engage the protrusions.
Over time, gun scopes have evolved to include advanced features including electronics, such as a processor and memory, which may perform calculations to assist a user in determining the appropriate corrections to make for a given shot. For example, a gun scope may have a memory that contains a ballistics table with different data based on different types of ammunition that may be used with a gun. A processor may use this information, along with distance, angle, wind, humidity, or other factors to compute an appropriate correction that a user may implement by manually adjusting one or more turrets or rings on the scope.
These electronic components require a power source, such as a battery, in order to operate. It is often difficult to find a suitable place to house within the scope the one or more batteries because gun scopes often have narrow and sleek profiles. In order to limit the negative spatial impact on the gun scope, smaller batteries are often used. Unfortunately, with smaller batteries comes a more limited operational time. This can be problematic, as users often take these gun scopes into the field for multiple days without access to either an outlet to charge the battery or a store to purchase a replacement.
The present invention addresses deficiencies in current gun scopes and provides various advantages as will become apparent upon reading of the present disclosure.